Welcome to my fishing blog… December 2023
December 3rd – Winter League Round 2, Georges Lake, Whitehouse Farm – Still Some Way Off The ‘Bread & Honey’
Georges Lake, Whitehouse Farm played host to the second round of the Alcove Winter League and with my first match results still reverberating around my head, I had some work to do. Ideally, I would have liked to have drawn on the dam end of the lake as I had pegs 18 and 19 in my sights but alas those fecking lake gods gave me peg 4. Thanks! Okay, so it was a good peg once, when the duck island was in position but now that it’s gone this peg is just mediocre at best. With an icy wind blowing up against this bank most of last week, I assumed all the fish would have congregated on the other side of the lake where it is sheltered… I wasn’t wrong.
Well, this peg does have a feature, by way of a tree to the right and if there were going to be any carp around there just might be one lurking around the overhanging branches. However, the tree is also a feature of peg 3, which was occupied by Bruce Taylor who also had the same thing in mind. I’ve known a few anglers get their rigs tangled together here while both fishing in the same patch of water so I wasn’t pinning any hopes of catching from this line. I did, however, drop in a few grains of corn on the all-in whistle and flicked in the odd grain throughout the match with the intention of having a quick look during the last hour.
My main line of attack was at 13 metres, hard on the deck with maggle and pinkle. I also fed a second line to my left at 10 metres with chopped worm and finally, I had a shallow rig set up for just off the edge of the tree at 6 metres. I reckoned I might get some roach, rudd or perch here up in the water if I kept loose feeding for an hour or so. There were only 4 of us fishing on the left-hand bank and my money was on peg 1 to finish tops here. Peg 1 has produced some quality carp, F1s and some big skimmers for me in the past and has been a match-winning peg many times. Andy Gard was on this peg and I was sure he would find a carp or two.
So, on the all-in, I cupped out a tiny nugget of Dark Lake groundbait laced with dead pinkles onto the 13-metre line. Next, I cupped out a small nugget of worm groundbait only onto the 10-metre line and I began loose-feeding 2-3 maggles just off the edge of the tree to my right. Well, right from the off I could see fish being caught by almost all the anglers on the opposite bank. Kev Murch, who was pegged opposite the island, had a carp early on and I could see several landing nets going in and out every few minutes. Meanwhile, with an hour gone, I was still waiting for my first bite! Then with almost 2 hours clocked up a tiny roach snaffled my single pinkle hookbait.
With despair setting in fast, I began topping up the 13-metre line with a few loose pinkles and it wasn’t long before I had a quick run of fish, mainly roach but also a few small skimmers showed up. A quick look at the 10-metre line with a small red worm produced a roach but nothing else so I gave up on this. Now I was totally focused on the 13-metre line, dropping in a few pinkles after every bite and then resting the swim to try the short line. I only had 2 small roach from the edge of the tree so I gave up on this line too. It was hard work but I managed to winkle out a few roach and skimmers from the long line for the next 2 hours until the swim died.
With everything now quiet and Bruce fishing the feeder, I decided to take a look under the tree where I had been sparingly loose-feeding with corn. I only gave it about 6 or 7 minutes and with no signs, I decided to give that line up too. So now with just one line to concentrate on, I probably caught another 3 or 4 small roach during the last hour, adding another 4 ounces to my tally… WTF! That was a tough session. Should I have chucked out the straight lead with bread or corn? Should I have tried the maggle feeder? Probably not as it didn’t work for the others on my bank and besides, it rained for most of the day and I was under my brolly. So, I don’t think I could have done any more than what I had done today.
Well, I knew I would come to rue those first 2 precious hours and I’m sure I could have done something to tempt a bite so still some work to be done in that department. I finished up with 4lb 11oz, which was top weight on that bank but it was still a long way off the leaders. Never mind, at least I didn’t blank like some did (no names mentioned). Although I managed to claw back a few points, it’s still looking like an uphill struggle at the moment with 4 matches left in the series. The next Winter League round will be held at The Clamp on January 14th (I’ve been practising for that one :))
Well, before that, there is a string of Christmas matches to be dealt with starting this Sunday (10th), when I’ll be fishing at Bitterwell Lake with The Kingswood Legion. Then on Thursday 14th, I’ll be at Windmill Fisheries before ending up back at Whitehouse Farm for the Alcove Christmas match on the 17th. Ho Ho Ho! Keep you posted.
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10th – Kingswood RBL AC – Bitterwell Lake
17th – Alcove Xmas match – Whitehouse Farm
28th – Windmill Fisheries & K&A Canal
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